Three Supreme Court Justices Return to Yale

NEW HAVEN — Justice Clarence Thomas, who has not asked a question from the Supreme Court bench since 2006, was expansive and gregarious. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who can appear a little dour during arguments, revealed a lively wit. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she was working to temper a combative questioning style “that has held me in bad stead.”

The justices returned to Yale Law School on Saturday for reunion weekend, and they were part of a rare three-way public conversation that touched on Supreme Court traditions, the court’s resistance to new technology, salsa dancing and spittoons.

As is so often the case at reunions, some of the alumni were nicer than remembered.

Justice Thomas, 66, has apparently mellowed the most. He acknowledged being a “cynical and negative” law student, blaming immaturity and the unsettled political climate of the early 1970s. “I cannot say we were thinking straight about a lot of things, even if we were not using illegal substances,” he said.

“I wish I came here at a time when I could have been more positive,” he added. “There is so much here that I walked right by.”

For years, Justice Thomas had refused to return to Yale. In his 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” he wrote that his law degree had been tainted by affirmative action. He had, he wrote, “learned the hard way that a law degree from Yale meant one thing for white graduates and another for blacks, no matter how much anyone denied it.”

He added that he had “peeled a 15-cent price sticker off a package of cigars and stuck it on the frame of my law degree to remind myself of the mistake I’d made by going to Yale.”

His 1991 confirmation hearings — which were rocked by accusations of sexual harassment from Anita Hill, a former colleague and fellow Yale Law graduate — did not help matters.

Relations between the justice and the law school are much warmer these days, and Saturday’s big public event was the culmination of the reconciliation. “This is certainly far more special to me,” he said of the ceremony, “than at the time of my graduation.”

Justice Sotomayor, 60, has written that she was admitted to the law school with the help of affirmative action and that she found her time here intimidating and inspiring. She has been a frequent visitor and honoree, often drawing huge crowds, particularly after the publication of her own memoir, “My Beloved World.”

On Saturday, she said she is a poor dancer but loves salsa and does well with a strong partner. “I have a facility that some of my colleagues would find very strange,” she said. “I can follow.”

The justices were questioned by Kate Stith, a law professor at Yale. She asked Justice Alito what he had been reading.

“I have two books that are inspirational,” he responded. “I keep them on a table by my bed, and I try to read a little bit of them every night. It’s ‘My Grandfather’s Son’ and ‘My Beloved World.’ ”

Justice Alito, 64, has been a loyal son of the law school. In 2005, as he prepared for his confirmation hearings, he wrote an apologetic note to the dean for missing his 30th reunion.

“I believe,” he wrote, “that this is the first five-year reunion I have not attended.”

Justices Alito and Sotomayor suggested that the Supreme Court may be too formal, isolated and technologically backward. The justices communicate in writing on paper, not by email. Face-to-face discussions are rare.

“The communications about cases are almost all written except when we’re in conference,” Justice Alito said.

Justice Sotomayor cited two reasons for the court’s reluctance to use technology. One was tradition. “The other,” she said of some of her colleagues, “is they don’t know how.”

And the décor is from another era. “We still have spittoons by our seats,” Justice Alito said.

Justice Thomas said he was content with the way things are. “I like formality,” he said.

But the three justices agreed that the court could use more diversity, mentioning geography, religion, professional background and education.

“I think we have to be concerned that almost all of us are from two law schools,” Justice Thomas said.

The six other justices all attended Harvard Law School, though Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg transferred to and graduated from Columbia Law School.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has two Harvard degrees, was once asked whether it is healthy for the Supreme Court to consist of only justices with degrees from elite institutions.

“First of all, I disagree with your premise,” he responded. “Not all of the justices went to elite institutions. Some went to Yale.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Justices Return to School and Speak of Lessons Learned. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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